Week 31 — Vulcan's Forge

Yesss!  That was fun!  This theme was the perfect occasion to grab a coil of 18ga argentium wire, and experiment with my little butane torch!   I made the rings on a 13mm mandrel, fused them closed, pickled, rinsed, bent and assembled them to make this variation of a simple loop-in-loop chain, as seen here: Plays with Fire Blog.  I also made the toggle clasp with a bit of 16ga argentium for the ring part (fused and hammered), and I twisted together two pieces of leftover rings from the chain to make the toggle bar, fused them until they became a single piece of metal, and hammered it thoroughly.  I oxydized lightly with hard boiled eggs, scrubbed a bit with steel wool, and tumbled everything for an hour.  It didn't need hardening, so I put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 250°F only to activate the anti-tarnishing properties.  A little dip in the pickle pot, a good rinse and a rub with a polishing cloth made it look perfect for either a man or a woman.

Johanne from Quebec
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Comments

[natc888]

Wow waht alot of work! It looks great, you must be well chuffed.

[Joanne Tinley]

WOW!! That is fantastic!

[Melissa Muir]

That turned out great. Nicely done.